Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, 2001-05

Described by General Tommy Franks as either "the dumbest fucking guy on the planet" (according to Franks' autobiography) or "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the Earth" (according to Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack), Douglas Feith began his long Washington career as a Middle East specialist under Richard V. Allen at the National Security Council (1981-82), then he spent two years at the Pentagon as the staff lawyer for Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle. Then in 1984 Feith was promoted to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy, where he stayed for another two-and-a-half years before leaving for the private sector.

Feith co-founded a Washington law firm where he spent the next 15 years, along with a little lobbying for Turkey on the side via Feith's corporation International Advisers, Inc. Then President George W. Bush tapped him for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Feith's primary responsibility was to formulate Pentagon policy and assist in its relations with other federal agencies and foreign nations. Also, Feith was responsible for overseeing the work of the Office of Special Plans, the group set up by Donald Rumsfeld to accumulate interesting intelligence data and send them straight to Vice President Dick Cheney without wasting effort on time-consuming CIA analysis.

Feith's office was also responsible for the oversight of military prisons, including Abu Ghraib. And it turns out that Feith himself masterminded the policy of ignoring the Geneva Conventions against torture. Nevertheless, Secretary Rumsfeld defended his deputy in August 2004 when he told the press that Feith is "just a rare talent. He is one of the intellectual leaders in the administration" and "without question one of the most brilliant individuals in government." After his 2005 resignation, the Pentagon's Inspector General investigated Feith's office for supplying pre-war intelligence assessments -- at odds with findings of the intelligence community -- outlining strong ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The Inspector General's office found Feith's work "inappropriate" but not illegal.